Best driving sunglasses

By Stuart Johnston

The most dangerous thing you are likely to do today is drive your motorcar. From the time you push the start button , you will be in charge of a machine that is capable of travelling many, many times faster than a human being can run. What’s more, out on the road, you will be keeping company with other human beings, whose responsibility (just like yours)  is to stay alert behind the wheel.

One of the most vital aspects of driving is enjoying good vision. And in a country like South Africa, with harsh sunlight, investing in a top-quality pair of sunglasses is a wise purchase decision. Especially as the winter months approach, more and more drivers will be exposed to driving in heavy traffic while driving into the sun at dawn or returning home in the evening.

If you do plenty of long distance driving, a good pair of sunglasses can also significantly reduce your fatigue levels behind the wheels.

Polarised lenses can restrict vision in the case of electronic displays

In choosing a good pair of driving sunglasses, many experts recommend polarised lenses, as this cuts down on glare. But bear in mind that in certain situations, polarised lenses prevent you from seeing certain electronic information displays on modern cars. A notable example of this is the head-up displays projected onto the windscreen glass of expensive cars, fitted with this option.

For night-time driving, no sunglasses are good sunglasses

Some sunglass manufacturers offer so-called “night vision” glasses with yellow lenses that are supposed to minimise the glare of on-coming headlights. However, eye specialists warn against these, explaining that these lenses do not in fact filter out  glare, but cut down on clarity of vision at night. Clear lenses with an anti-glare coating are the best solution here.

Other considerations

There are other considerations when choosing a pair of sunglasses suitable for driving. Many people prefer frames with a narrow temple area, as this is critical in traffic when peripheral vision is important.

You may also consider lighter frames for driving long distances, where heavier frame may become uncomfortable after many hours

The best brands

As for the best driving sunglasses, the following brands  are generally reckoned to be amongst the best in the business.

Serengeti

This world-renowned brand of “shades” has pretty much become the standard-bearer when it comes to top quality sunglasses suitable for driving. One of Serengeti’s key technologies is the so-called Drivers Gradient Lenses. These glass lenses are darker at the top and lighter in the lower areas of the lens, enabling an easy transition for looking up the road ahead to reading the instruments on the dashboard.

The standard  amber-coloured driver's lens  amplifies contrast and definition  and is engineered to transmit and distinguish red, green, and yellow colours, so they” pop”  in all environments. Handy for keeping an eye on the traffic lights!

Ray Ban

Ray Ban is the most famous name in sun glasses. The brand first came into being in 1937, after its creators, American company Bausch and Lomb, were commissioned by the US Army Air Corps to design protective eye wear that helped pilots cope with nausea and headaches caused by the intense white and blue hues when flying at super high altitude.

Ray Ban was bought by the Italian luxury goods company Luxottica in 1999, and since then the brand has become even more iconic. Very expensive, Ray Bans are known as a trademark of the rich and famous all over the world.

The first celeb to wear Ray Bans to maximum effect was James Dean, and just over a decade later Peter Fonda wore pair in the archetypal hippy movie, Easy Rider. The Blues Brothers movie would not have had the same impact without the lead characters’ penchant for heavy plastic-framed Ray Bans.

As for driver wear, Ray Ban’s devotion to quality sees a wide range of frames and styles in both plastic and glass lens design to provide the best harsh light protection for those long hauls into the late afternoon glare.

Oakley

Oakley sunglasses are generally associated with sports, heavily accented towards the action end of the spectrum, such as running, sky-diving and mountain biking. But Oakley makes a neat range of driving sunglasses too, and one of their more suitable offerings include the Plaintiff Squared model, with lightweight alloy frames and conventional rectangular lenses. They have narrow temple-area construction which is good for peripheral vision in traffic. The so-called Plutonite lenses filter out 100 per cent of UVA, UBV and UVC rays.

Oh yes, and apparently the hinge mechanisms, in titanium , were modelled after the leaf springs fitted to pick-ups and earlier-generations of motorcars! Oakley’s American  founder James Jannard got his entrepreneurial start by manufacturing special hand grips for motocross bikes in the early 1970s.